Our three-week east coast excursion began a couple of hours east of Des Moines in the familiar town of Iowa City. Amanda had an appointment, and I took the kiddos for an outdoor lunch at Short’s Burger & Shine. We had a few moments to follow up lunch with cupcakes from Molly’s and a quick stop in the new-to-us downtown Target store.
Eilidh was ready for the A’s game from the start of the day, wearing her A’s dress and stealing my hat for a photo in Iowa City.
We split two big burgers and fries; Noah had a rave review of his bacon cheeseburger, while the girls were most enamored with the homemade french fries.
After grabbing Amanda’s food at Panera, we were back on I-80 to continue our drive to the Windy City. Traffic added about 30 minutes to our drive but we made it to the Lincoln Park neighborhood relatively on schedule, in time for two planned stops: at a Rothy’s store and Jeni’s ice creams.
The girls made their Rothy’s purchases, all of us had at least one scoop of ice cream, and then we headed to the south side of Chicago for the A’s-White Sox game. After we parked, we played follow-the-leader behind Eilidh, who was racing to get into the stadium.
The A’s lost 3-2, so we’ll focus on the food and atmosphere. The ballpark was busier than I would have expected for a Wednesday evening, so we traded our lower-level seats for the upper deck, where the crowd was much lighter.
Eilidh ate a whole container of cotton candy, Noah was thrilled to have pizza at the ballpark, and Emmie maintained her Dippin’ Dots transition. The Parmesan garlic fries were a standout, being able to buy the classic Garrett’s cheese and caramel popcorn mix was a plus, and the hot dog and brat we tried were solid.
Before we left the stadium, the girls posed with the 2005 White Sox World Series poster (for Grandpa, the White Sox fan.)
All in all, it was perfect weather for a night at the ballpark, our first-ever all together as a family of five.
We stayed at a new SpringHill Suites in Chinatown, just 8 minutes north of the White Sox ballpark. The view from the window was quiet, overlooking one of the main streets of the Chinatown neighborhood.